Talking to Gaza (Haaretz, ISRAEL)

"Hamas is responsible for everything that goes on in the Gaza Strip," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said. "Hamas is responsible for planning the [recent bombing] attack and perhaps even more," Defense Minister Ehud Barak told us, adding that Hamas is responsible for both harming civilians and for Gilad Shalit's well being.

But Hamas is not only "responsible" - it is playing a central role in the ongoing talks in Egypt to extend the cease-fire and to reopen the border crossings. Hamas will set the conditions for a reconciliation with the Palestinian Authority; Europe is reevaluating its policy toward the group; Turkey believes it should become a political organization that "does not carry weapons," and Hamas is suggesting that U.S. President Barack Obama negotiate with it.

On the face of it, history can now rejoice. It has taught the same lesson to nearly every leader confronting a national movement. The IRA in Ireland was a terrorist group until it became a partner to the peace talks; the United States administration in Iraq struck an alliance with "terrorists" to restore order and even supported incorporating such groups into the new Iraqi army; senior army officers in Afghanistan favor deals with tribal chiefs who once acted as the heads of terrorist groups, because the central government lacks power and authority in the periphery of the country; some Islamic terrorist groups in Egypt were embraced by the regime for seeing the "light," and the PA, Israel's partner in the diplomatic process, was once seen as a terrorist organization that should be contained.

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